"We will meet again this week," Daly said. "We have no further comment at this time."

Saskin's statement sounded as though it was written by the same person.

"After meeting (yesterday) we have agreed to continue discussions and will not be making any further comment at this time,"Saskin said.

But have the two sides come closer to agreeing on what is needed in a collective bargaining agreement? It's not overly probable. For that to happen, either the NHL would have to drop its desire for a salary cap or the NHLPA would have to suddenly decide that having its salaries limited is not a bad idea, and there has been no indication that either has happened.

The fact there is another meeting on the docket could leave a sliver of optimism, but the two sides could simply get together one more time to ensure they are so diametrically opposed there could be no chance for a season.

Daly had said no proposal would be made at yesterday's meeting. While the NHL is not expected to come off its stance that a salary cap is needed, it's possible it will propose a soft cap. If a hard cap stays in place, it's difficult to see how the NHLPA would want to keep talking, given its repeated public dismissals of a hard cap.

An interesting wrinkle was added to the meeting yesterday in the form of New Jersey Devils executive Lou Lamoriello. He joined Daly, NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss and outside counsel Bob Batterman on the NHL's side. The NHLPA was represented by the same trio -- Saskin, NHLPA president Trevor Linden and outside counsel John McCambridge -- that put on a brave face for meetings last week in Chicago and Toronto.

The owners requested the latest round of meetings, and Lamoriello's involvement, if nothing else, lent a new set of ears and ideas to the proceedings.